Escom disconnects Malawi govt building for unpaid bills

Government business has come to a standstill at new government building in the commercial city of Blantyre after Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (Escom) cut off power supply due to unpaid bills.

Chingota: Disconneted for unpaid bills

Escom disconnected power supply to the building on Wednesday afternoon, forcing the State employees to abandon their respective offices in what can only be regarded as ‘holiday’.

The building, situated at the heart of Blantyre town adjacent to Blantyre Sports Club is now a deserted dark-hall with no hope that the paralysed government operations will return to normal anytime soon.

Nyasa Times visit to the building discovered that the utility provider cut off the power supply Wednesday afternoon.

“How do they expect us to be working without electricity? Nobody wants to remain in office with what has just happened,” complained one of the civil servant who spoke to Nyasa Times .

The officer disclosed that most of the government departments owe the utility providers-Escom and Water Board- huge outstanding bills.

Escom Public Relations Manager, Kitty Chinseu-Chingota while confirming the power cut at new government building refused to disclose how much the company is owed in electricity bills.

“Our customer privacy policy does not allow us to divulge such information,” said Chingota.

During the Peoples Party era, the new government building, constructed by the Chinese Government, had no power for two days after Escom cut off supply due to same issue of unsettled bills.

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Ive worked there workers can not do there job for a salary but you give them the money you ll see your house connected within a month with stolen materials and there managers are the worst performers. They promote people not because of hard work but the lazy and corrupt ones are the good boys. Shame on this big state company

when i think of escom ndimafuna kusanza. i paid for power connection sometime bak koma when i go there to check status its all stories. they give me a lever arc file to check but form is nowhere to be seen. i photocopy my copy and give them a copy still no progress. i know akufuna some lubricants. i will shame them one day.

What wil be the productivity us,as the students?u escom guys u have to think on dat issue.here at santhe sec xool we have been disconnected of power supply since last 2 months.who wil handover your position?IDIOTS!

I hate ESCOM people coz instead of disconnecting real culprits, they are busy punishing minorities. They are Asians out there who connive with ESCOM staff to consider them tampering with meters and some other nasty things just to defraud the firm. For example, there is this guy, Andrew Chisale and his friends who go to Asians and get bribes to buy those cars he is driving!! ACB should also go to ESCOM and investigate how other people amass their worth there. They are driving posh cars while we customers are getting raw deal everyday!!! Shupit zanu agalu inu a ESCOM !!!!!

Well done ESCOM!! About time steps were taken to force the government to pay its bills. Now the Water Board should follow suit and turn off the water supply to government buildings when bills are unpaid. The government is the biggest customer of these utilities and when it does not pay its bills it means they cannot develop and expand. The government needs to give good example by paying its bills on time in order for the country to develop further. A reliable electricity supply and water supply are essential for the development of the country, but they depend on prompt payment of bills in order to finance that development.

Escom must also give their customers time to pay the bills and not rushing with diosconnections as they do. Or else connect with prepaid meters so that these government building can stop utambwali. Give them new prepaid meters all will be history. Why is ESCOM taking too long to implement the new prepaid meter system? Wake up from the deep slumber escom please.

Up to the point of disconnecting then the problem is two ways. ESCOM does not have proper planning to ensure that bills are paid 30, 60 or 90 days. It may also mean that there is no proper communication between ESCOM and customers to just remind them about the unpaid bills than reaching the option of disconnecting. to reach the point of kudula magetsi ku boma!! pavuta apa komanso kuboma mukuti ESCOM ikupatsani bwanju dividenc when they are not making any money!. Komaso most postpaid bills are not genuine they are inflated unnecessarily making the customer unable to pay. Fix prepaid meters so that these problems are eradicated once and for all. Why is it like ESCOM has no planners and strategists oooooh.

Escom you are fools. Why not just install prepaid meters in these buildings, then the embiciles managing government offices will be forces to spend on priority areas other than inflating prices of stationary of or other invoices.

Government is also owing lots of money to individual tenants. Government has not been paying house rentals for medical doctors, police, army etc. The Government needs to make a statement on this issue. People should not spend their money and time following up on their rentals. Demeti!!

Stupid ESCOM why not doing the same at the state houses as well mukuopa kuti akufinyani machaba anuwo apm because we all know that state houses have also huge bills that are yet to be honored. Toothless mbuzi just like BWB i hate you all.